The skulls discovered at Adichanallur

Look for a showcase displaying skulls in the Adichanallur Gallery. Play this story there.

These skulls are from ancient burial sites that were excavated at Adichanallur on the banks of the Porunai river in Tamil Nadu. Surprisingly the DNA analysis of the bones unearthed from the site revealed that only 8% of the skeletons were of the local Dravidian race; the rest were a mix of races from Europe, Africa and the Far East. The investigators seemed to be staring at an ancient multi-racial, international cemetery that was at least 2000 years old!

There was another peculiar observation; many of the skulls had a pronounced depression above the eyebrows, almost like a third eye! What could explain all this?

We now know that the depression in the skulls was not an inherited racial feature, but a deformity created by streptococcus bacteria. It causes a benign tumour called Potts’s Puff, and the people most vulnerable to it were sailors and deep-sea divers. Both these discoveries hint at a port city that attracted sailors from all over the world.

About 25 Kms from Adichanallur is Korkai, an ancient port city of the kingdom of Pandyas. 2000 years ago, it was an international harbour and one of the ancient world’s greatest pearl export centres. Korkai pearls were famous worldwide and people from many other ancient civilisations sailed in to trade here. Many of them stayed here for extended periods. Sangam period literature dating back to the 3rd century BCE even tells us about the Pandya kings having employed Greeks, Romans and other foreigners as mercenary bodyguards. When they died, they would have been buried here. And that explains the skulls of people belonging to multiple races. Isn’t it amazing how a skull can reveal so much? Dead men do tell tales!